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Comments

They had to have a volva. They probably escaped from the volva with “aid” of a gelatinizing cap skin. The volva breaks up as the cap expands and the upper layer of the cap’s skin probably has cell walls breaking down so that it becomes a slippery layer. Although there are amanitas that don’t have this particular property of the cap’s skin, the majority do. Friction between the sandy soil and the volva helps pull the volva from the slippery cap. I’d guess that that is what happened in this case. A little rain helps too…it keeps the slippery cap slippery and can wash off volval fragments.

In Florida you may find several amanitas that don’t even have a real skin on the cap or have a cap skin that doesn’t gelatinize at all or waits quite a long time before gelatinizing. Amanita nauseosa and A. rhoadsii are in the first group; and A. farinosa is in the second group.